Battle stations

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Battle stations was a general alarm used in naval operations (such as those that influenced the policies of Starfleet) when a starship was going into battle. On Federation starships, a battle stations alarm was usually made in addition to a red alert or, earlier, tactical alert alarm.

In 2152, when developing the protocol that would eventually come to be known as "tactical alert," LieutenantMalcolm Reed stated to CaptainJonathan Archer that he wanted it to be "something a bit more comprehensive than battle stations." After some persuading, Archer agreed to consider the idea, but told him to think of something "less aggressive" to call it than "battle stations." (ENT: "Singularity")

In 2368, when the long-term memories of the crew of the Enterprise-D were temporarily erased by the impostor Kieran MacDuff, they were led to believe that the Federation was at war with a species called the Lysians and that their orders were to destroy the Lysian Central Command. As the ship approached the central command Captain Jean-Luc Picard called for red alert and battle stations. (TNG: "Conundrum")

That same year, when CounselorDeanna Troi and Lieutenant CommandersData and Geordi La Forge visited a Romulan ship "frozen in time" that appeared to be attacking the Enterprise-D, they were surprised to discover that the crew were not at battle stations, but rather that the ship was on evacuation alert. This and other evidence led to them to realize that what was happening was most likely not a Romulan attack. (TNG: "Timescape")

Also that same year, Captain Kathryn Janeway ordered battle stations during an apparent attack on Voyager by the dream species. The event, however, was actually a fiction created as part of a collective unconsciousness to trick the Voyager crew into believing they were still awake. (VOY: "Waking Moments")